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South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
21–30 of 177 posts
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#22Brutal news for Botswana which was really breaking new ground in raising Sub Saharan living standards. 30% of their GDP and a huge portion of government revenues are diamond exports. And they had gotten to 100% formalized and child labor free supply lines
The did away with child slavery in the mines, but severely exploited female adults instead:
https://www.freedomunited.org/news/botswana-diamonds-ugly-tr...
Things like marital rape are still legal there.
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#23Brutal news for Botswana which was really breaking new ground in raising Sub Saharan living standards. 30% of their GDP and a huge portion of government revenues are diamond exports. And they had gotten to 100% formalized and child labor free supply lines
Hopefully, the have foreseen this and they have diversified adequately. Relying on a single source for most of your income is never good. Whether that is diamonds or oil. Hopefully they got their own sovereign fund up and running/
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#24Hope to see these headlines some day for the meat industry
If we can replace the taste, appearance, and texture of a medium-rare rib eye with lab grown meat at a substantially cheaper price, we will.
Modern beef is unhealthy for humans due to grazing conditions. Maybe the lab grown stuff will be closer to conventional farming output.
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
If we can replace the taste, appearance, and texture of a medium-rare rib eye with lab grown meat at a substantially cheaper price, we will.
>substantially cheaper price why substantially cheaper? Break-even would be fine too, no? And as a plus, lab-grown meat is much more ethical. I also think that replacing 'cheap' meat like ground beef would already be sufficient and would make a huge impact, there is really no need make it difficult for ourselves and try to replace rib-eye.
For me, it would have to be mass produced and about an order of magnitude cheaper.
I'd rather not be testing/tasting experimental lab stuff. And mass production bringing down the price with economies of scale is the real proof that the technology is ready.
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#26Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
>substantially cheaper price why substantially cheaper? Break-even would be fine too, no? And as a plus, lab-grown meat is much more ethical. I also think that replacing 'cheap' meat like ground beef would already be sufficient and would make a huge impact, there is really no need make it difficult for ourselves and try to replace rib-eye.
I don't think most people are going to grab lab grown out of the grocer fridge if normal beef is available for the same price. I know I would not. But if its 25% cheaper I'm happy to try it
I would for the same price as it doesn’t involve killing a cow. That’s a plus for me!
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
If we can replace the taste, appearance, and texture of a medium-rare rib eye with lab grown meat at a substantially cheaper price, we will.
Agree, as long as it's meat. Lab grown meat from cells is meat. The reason impossible never worked was becuase it wasn't meat. Very few people are going to trade meat for soy and vegetables
Yeah impossible was targeting a weird small niche.
The intersection of 'vegan by all means', 'loves the taste of meat', 'does not care about ultra processed food', 'enough money to go for the expensive option'.
No wonder it did not work.
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
If we can replace the taste, appearance, and texture of a medium-rare rib eye with lab grown meat at a substantially cheaper price, we will.
Agree, as long as it's meat. Lab grown meat from cells is meat. The reason impossible never worked was becuase it wasn't meat. Very few people are going to trade meat for soy and vegetables
IDK what "never worked" means here, the market cap for Impossible/Beyond alone is still over a billion dollars. You can still get an Impossible Whopper at any Burger King in the US.
There's plenty of issues with selling meat alternatives, I don't think you're the person to speak to them for some reason...
Re: South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones
#30I heard once that even if DeBeers stopped all diamond mining activity, their existing stockpile would last for a 100 years or more.
It would probably last 1,000 years, now.
Since nobody wants to buy them anymore.